(Sao Paulo) A 100% orange front row: Australian Oscar Piastri will start the sprint race of the Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix on Saturday, ahead of his McLaren teammate Lando Norris, while championship leader Max Verstappen will be 4e.
Posted at 3:47 p.m.
Updated at 5:21 p.m.
Check the sprint race rankings
The English team confirms its status as the leading force in the field on the Interlagos track in Sao Paulo: best time in qualifying on Friday, Piastri was ahead by only 29/1000e Norris to take the second leading position of his career in sprint.
Relegated to more than 250/1000e of the strong driver of the day, the Monegasque Charles Leclerc will start third for this 100 km race completed in 30 minutes and which will start on Saturday at 3 p.m. (Paris time, GMT+1).
Behind him, the Ferrari driver will have to contain Max Verstappen, only 4e.
“As soon as we entered qualifying, we felt like we were missing out,” admitted the Red Bull driver on Friday evening.
“The bumpy areas are not good for our car and cost me time,” he also complained. The Dutchman will, however, be able to capitalize on his performances in the sprint race to keep Norris, his first pursuer in the general standings, at bay, since no victory has yet escaped him this season in this exercise.
The three-time reigning champion has a 47-point lead in the championship over the McLaren driver, while up to eight points will be up for grabs on Saturday – and 26 on Sunday during the traditional Sunday meeting.
Bearman replaces Magnussen
The Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), winner of the last GP, in Mexico, and the Briton George Russell (Mercedes), will complete the third row.
Briton Oliver Bearman will start 10e behind the wheel of the modest Haas. The 19-year-old driver, who replaces the ill Dane Kevin Magnussen at least until the sprint race, saw his best time canceled for having exceeded the limits of the track. For the first sprint of his career, he will still start ahead of his German teammate Nico Hulkenberg, 12e.
Earlier in the day, Bearman, who will compete in his first full season in F1 with the American team next year, signed in the heat of Interlagos on 3e best time of the only free practice session of the weekend, behind Norris and Russell.
The French Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon will start respectively 7e et 17e at the wheel of their Alpine.
The other Red Bull, from the Mexican Sergio Pérez, will only be 13ebehind the Briton Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), 11e – but ahead of the Williams of Franco Colapinto, 14e. Quebecer Lance Stroll ranked 19e position.
In Brazil, the Argentinian – whose name, like that of Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls), is mentioned to replace Pérez at Red Bull next year – can count on his thousands of fans from across the border to encourage him.
The Brazilian GP is the penultimate of the six rounds of the year to feature a sprint format, which changes the course of the weekend. Thus, the drivers only carry out one free practice session on Friday before qualifying which determines the grid for the sprint race run the next day.
After this race, the drivers will compete in “classic” qualifying, which will determine the starting grid for the Sunday GP where Verstappen will only start, at best, 6e.
Indeed, the Batavian received a penalty of five places due to a change of internal combustion engine beyond the authorized quotas. This sanction will not apply at the start of the sprint race.
